Favorite Quotations on Advice from the Saints

v Believe me, he who does not think of the wants of the poor is not a member of the Body ofChrist. For if one member suffers, all suffer. (St. Alphege of Canterbury)

v Transfiguration: “Christ is transfigured, not by changing into something He never wasbefore, but by revealing to His disciples what He truly was, in opening their eyes.” (St. JohnDamascene)

v “Do not wish to be anything but what you are, and try to be that perfectly.” (St. Francis deSales)

v A Prayer of Saint Francis of AssisiLord, make me an instrument of Your peace.Where there is hatred, let me sow love.Where there is injury, pardon,Where there is doubt, faith,Where there is despair, hope.Where there is darkness, light,and where there is sadness, joy.O Divine Master, grant that I maynot so much seek to be consoled, as to console;To be understood, as to understand;To be loved, as to love;For it is in giving that we receive-----It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

v “I have my room, some books and a nearby chapel. That is complete happiness.” (St.Miguel of Ecuador)

v “Do no evil to anyone, and do not judge anyone. Observe this and you will be saved.” (St.Paphnutius the Great)

v “Pray and work.” (St. Benedict of Nursia)

v Born in Bohemia, St John Neumann was ordained priest in New York, where he ministeredto German-speaking immigrants. He confessed in his diary, “only a poor priest, one whocan endure hardship, can labor here ... he leads a wandering life. There is no pleasure,except for the care of souls.” After his death, the Sacred Congregation declared that his lifeseemed “a series of ordinary everyday actions performed fearlessly, but not exceptionally.”To which Pope Benedict XV replied: “Work, even the most simple, performed with constantperfection in the midst of inevitable difficulties, spells heroism.” (St. John NepomuceneNeumann)

v “So live, therefore, that you may not fear the end of life.” (St. Honoratus of Arles )

v “Consider every day that you are then for the first time beginning; and always act with thesame fervor as on the first day you began.” (St. Anthony of Padua)

v “Whoever wishes to listen well to divine speech must enclose himself in great silence.” (St.Umilta of Faenza)

v “He who asks of God in faith things needful for this life is sometimes mercifully heard andsometimes mercifully not heard.” (St. Prosper of Aquitaine)

v “You have forgotten what you are.” (St. Severinus Boethius)

v “Christ comes as often as a poor man approached you, for He said: “As only as you did it forone of these, the least of my brethren, you did it for me.” Therefore, do not let your heart behardened; extend a coin to Christ, from whom you desire to receive a kingdom.” (St.Caesarius of Arles)